Um processo de identificação, enfrentamento e superação da maldição do conhecimento na educação básica por meio da clínica da atividade docente

Abstract

This research investigates the phenomenon known as the "curse of knowledge" in the context of teaching practice, based on an intervention carried out in 2023 at a state public school in southwestern Paraná, grounded in the Teaching Activity Clinic (TAC). The curse of knowledge refers to a cognitive bias in which someone who has mastered certain content assumes that others possess the same level of understanding. This causes concepts or procedures that seem obvious to the expert to become difficult to explain to a beginner, interfering with the ability to adopt another's perspective. The study is justified by addressing a recurring and often invisible problem in daily school life: the disconnect between teacher knowledge and student comprehension. The general objective of the research was to investigate, based on data produced during the intervention, the process of identifying, confronting, and overcoming — even if partial or ongoing — the curse of knowledge in the pedagogical practice of a 7th grade Geography teacher, in a formative process developed jointly with a Portuguese Language teacher, through TAC. Audio and video recordings of classes and clinical sessions were used, transcribed and analyzed based on a dialogical-developmental theoretical-methodological perspective, grounded in the contributions of Vygotsky and Bakhtin. Furthermore, the research is anchored in Activity Clinic theory, which considers work activity itself as a field of analysis and transformation, and employs the cross-self-confrontation method, in which teachers watch audiovisual recordings of their own classes and, subsequently, those of their colleague, being invited to reflect on and discuss their practice mediated by an intervener. The corpus analysis was divided into five main stages: the beginning, the first attempt, the confrontation, the overcoming, and the collective validation. The results show that by making the curse of knowledge visible, teachers were able to identify invisible assumptions in their own practice, develop more accessible communication strategies for students, and reframe their pedagogical actions. TAC proved to be a powerful device for listening, analysis, and transformation, allowing subjects to become agents of their own change. At the end of the process, teachers demonstrated greater sensitivity to others' perspectives and a concrete movement toward overcoming automated repetition, opening space for recreation. The research also contributes to continuing teacher education by proposing a methodology that not only reveals impasses in pedagogical work but also points to viable paths for its transformation.